Chiyang Daoren, Eastern Taoism
In the Five Peaks and Four Rivers method, besides the three typical patterns described earlier, there are also three atypical special patterns for judging good and ill fortune: “leaning-auspicious patterns,” “leaning-inauspicious patterns,” and “special variant patterns.” What these three share at their core is that “the Five Peaks and Four Rivers are locally harmonious or locally flawed, but the overall presence is not completely out of balance.” Let us introduce them briefly here as well.
1. Leaning-Auspicious Patterns
Leaning-auspicious patterns foretell that local strengths make up for overall weaknesses, so that fortune is “steady with a rise.” In these patterns, although the Five Peaks and Four Rivers have local flaws, other parts have clear strengths, and through this complementary effect fortune may rise in stages:
1. A Lone Strong Eastern Peak: The Face of Minor Nobility
Its main features are a full, raised Eastern Peak (the left cheekbone); well-formed right cheekbone, forehead, nose, and jaw; and freely flowing Four Rivers (ears, eyes, mouth, and nose). As for its meaning for fortune, the left cheekbone governs “help from benefactors and real power.” People with this kind of face may readily be promoted by benefactors in middle age, but because the right cheekbone is not raised, they need to strengthen their financial planning after middle age.
Of this “face of minor nobility,” the physiognomy books say: “When the Eastern Peak alone is raised, benefactors help in secret; one holds power in middle age, and in later years one must hold on to what one has.”
2. A Lone Strong Western Peak: The Face of a Wealthy Merchant
Its main features are a prominent right cheekbone—full and raised—with well-formed left cheekbone, forehead, nose, and jaw, and Four Rivers flowing without obstruction. As for its meaning for fortune, the right cheekbone governs “control of wealth and fighting spirit.” People with this kind of face have strong finances and are good at competing, and they readily accumulate wealth after middle age; but because the left cheekbone is not raised, their help from benefactors is poor, and they should take care to build cooperative relationships actively at work.
Of this “face of a wealthy merchant,” the physiognomy books say: “When the Western Peak alone is strong, wealth and power are in one's grasp; one grows rich in middle age, and in later years one must guard against loneliness.”
3. A Lone Bright Southern Peak: The Face of Early Distinction
Its main features are a square, broad, bright forehead with an even hairline; well-formed nose, cheekbones, and jaw; and flawless Four Rivers (ears, eyes, mouth, and nose)—that is, a full, bright forehead with the rest of the Five Peaks balanced. As for its meaning for fortune, the Southern Peak governs “fortune in early life and wisdom.” People with this kind of face get off to a smooth start in study and career in early life and readily receive ancestral blessings or family support; their fortune is steady after middle age, but because the Central Peak is not prominent, they may lack the drive to break through in their careers in middle age and need to take the initiative to improve themselves.
Of this “face of early distinction,” the physiognomy books have the saying: “When the Southern Peak alone is bright, one achieves one's ambitions early, preserves what one has in middle age, and has smooth fortune in later years.”
2. Leaning-Inauspicious Patterns
Leaning-inauspicious patterns foretell that the Five Peaks and Four Rivers have clear local flaws with no strengths elsewhere to make up for them, so that fortune stays low in the corresponding stage of life and swings without settling. On the whole they are “faces of minor misfortune”:
1. A Lone Sunken Central Peak: The Face of Hardship in Middle Age
Its main features are a low, collapsed nose bridge and a short, small nose tip, while the forehead, cheekbones, and jaw are well formed and the Four Rivers are flawless. As for its meaning for fortune, the Central Peak governs “career and finances in middle age.” People with this kind of face easily hit bottlenecks in their careers in middle age, with large swings in finances and a tendency to lose wealth through bad decisions or interference from petty, scheming people; but because the forehead and cheekbones are well formed, in old age they may maintain a basic livelihood through their children or a stable job.
Of this “face of hardship in middle age,” the physiognomy books warn: “When the Central Peak alone is sunken, there are many obstacles in middle age; later years can be peaceful, but one must guard against losing money.”
2. A Lone Pointed Northern Peak: The Face of a Bleak Old Age
Its main features are a pointed, thin jaw (chin) not wrapped in flesh, while the forehead, nose, and cheekbones are well formed and the Four Rivers are flawless. As for its meaning for fortune, the Northern Peak governs “blessings and foundation in old age.” People with this kind of face easily fall into difficulties in old age, such as health problems and financial pressure, and must rely on their children or savings to live. However, because their fortune in middle age is steady, they can accumulate some resources in the first half of life that ease their difficulties in old age somewhat.
Of this “face of a bleak old age,” the physiognomy books say: “When the Northern Peak alone is pointed, one's later years are full of hardship; middle age is passable, but one must guard against loneliness and bitterness.”
3. One Blocked River Among the “Four Rivers”: The Face of a Local Weakness
Its main feature is that only one of the Four Rivers is flawed, while the other three and the Five Peaks are well formed. As for its meaning for fortune: if the Southern River, the Yangtze (the ears), is blocked, it foretells insufficient wisdom, a tendency to miss opportunities, and difficulty keeping the family estate; if the Western River, the Yellow River (the eyes), is blocked, it foretells a clear lack of strategic skill and a tendency to be deceived; if the Eastern River, the Huai (the mouth), is blocked, it foretells that one may bring calamity through speech, have poor relations with others in old age, and see one's blessings in old age damaged; if the Northern River, the Ji (the nose), is blocked, it foretells that finances may be obstructed, the ability to carry things out is poor, and wealth accumulates relatively slowly.
Of this “face of a local weakness,” the physiognomy books say: “When one of the Four Rivers is blocked, fortune has a gap; only by making up the weakness can one move toward good fortune.”
3. Special Variant Patterns
In these special variant patterns, a person's Five Peaks and Four Rivers often have rare forms (such as asymmetry or unusual lines); the ancient books record little about them, and they are “faces whose fortune is hard to determine.”
In judging fortune, one must pay attention to “two things.” The first is “annual luck” (liunian fortune)—the pattern by which fortune rises and falls over a lifetime, taking ten years as one major cycle of luck, or subdividing it by the solar terms of the lunar calendar and by Chinese zodiac animal years. The second is “personal choice”—the active influence a person exerts on their own fortune within the framework of fate through subjective actions such as choice of career, dealings with others, and choosing between good and evil. When meeting people with such special variant patterns, one must combine “annual luck” and “personal choice” to judge their fortune comprehensively. Each pattern is briefly described below:
1. Skewed “Five Peaks”: The Face of Directionless Confusion
Its main feature is that the forehead, nose, left and right cheekbones, and jaw as a whole slant to the left or right, without symmetry. As for its meaning for fortune, it foretells a life without direction or with an unclear direction, a tendency to hesitate over choices in career and family, and even, after middle age, wasted resources from having gone in the wrong direction. However, if the angle of slant is less than fifteen degrees, one may improve one's fortune through later effort by gradually clarifying one's goals and holding to one's course.
Of this “face of directionless confusion,” the physiognomy books say: “When the Five Peaks are skewed, direction is hard to settle; only by setting a goal can one break the deadlock.”
2. Hairs Growing on the Cheekbones: The Face of Mixed Fortune
Its main feature is that dense fine hairs, unlike normal body hair, suddenly grow in the area of the left or right cheekbone, while the Five Peaks and Four Rivers have no other flaws. Its meaning for fortune has two dimensions. If the hairs grow in an orderly way, the physiognomy books regard this as an omen of “secret help from benefactors or unexpected opportunities,” perhaps bringing breakthroughs in promotion at work or in business ventures. If the hairs are disordered, it foretells interference from petty, scheming people, and one must be especially wary that opportunities may come with great risks. For this “face of mixed fortune,” overall fortune is judged mainly by the form of the hairs—orderly or disordered—together with annual luck.
3. Broken “Four Rivers”: The Face of Interrupted Fortune
Its main feature is that the areas of the Four Rivers—ears, eyes, mouth, and nose—show marks of “breakage” such as horizontal lines, scars, or black moles. As for its meaning for fortune, it foretells that one's fortune is easily interrupted by sudden health, family, or financial misfortunes, which may even change the course of one's life. If lines appear in the areas of the Four Rivers from natural aging, such as wrinkles, it is not an inauspicious sign; if they are scars from injuries, one must judge the corresponding fortune by the location of the scar. For this “face of interrupted fortune,” the key is to judge good or ill fortune comprehensively by whether the lines come from natural aging or injury and by their location.
4. Applying the “Five Peaks” and “Four Rivers” in Practice
In applying the Five Peaks and Four Rivers method in practice, the key is to keep the whole in mind. The Five Peaks and Four Rivers themselves form a whole on the face; the method holds that “the face is like a landscape, and fate is like mountains and rivers,” and it attends to the harmony of the mountains and waters. So in applying this method, one should pay special attention to the following:
First, look at the whole before the parts. Begin with the overall form of a person's Five Peaks and Four Rivers and judge carefully whether their “landscape pattern” is harmonious. If it is, the person's fortune is very likely not too bad; even if there are some setbacks, they will not seriously affect fortune at its root. Then analyze the good and ill fortune of the individual parts of the Five Peaks and Four Rivers. If the individual parts are likened to trees, the Five Peaks and Four Rivers as a whole are the forest. Looking first at the whole and then at the individual parts avoids “seeing the trees but not the forest,” which produces a typical bias of partial perception.
In fact, this is true not only in face reading. In daily work and life, too, “seeing the trees but not the forest” causes biases of perception in many areas: in decision-making, one easily falls into short-sightedness and imbalance; in solving problems, one easily treats the symptoms but not the root cause; and in learning, knowledge becomes fragmented and shallow, and so on. All right—back to our subject, the application of the Five Peaks and Four Rivers method.
Second, combine it with “the Three Sections” and “the Twelve Palaces.” The Five Peaks and Four Rivers are only a “macro pattern”; judgments must be further refined by combining them with micro patterns such as the Three Sections (fortune in early life, middle age, and old age) and the Twelve Palaces (specific areas of life). The methods of the Three Sections and the Twelve Palaces were discussed in earlier articles; dear readers may wish to review them and bring them into the Five Peaks and Four Rivers method for an overall judgment.
Third, look at complexion dynamically. The Five Peaks and Four Rivers are both a “macro pattern” and an “inborn foundation.” Complexion, by contrast, reflects short-term fortune and is mostly dynamic. It is easily affected by the external environment and specific factors—such as long-term contentment or frustration, or good or poor health—and so may to some degree affect the direction of one's fate. If one reads a person by the Five Peaks and Four Rivers method without looking at complexion, it is very easy to overlook the effect of short-term fortune on that person. Bear in mind that short-term effects, as they accumulate, can give a person quite enough trouble.
These are the points to note in applying the Five Peaks and Four Rivers method in practice. Face reading is in fact an important way of exploring “the unity of heaven and humanity.” Taking a person's features as its reference and summing up the knowledge of earlier generations, it gradually took shape as a specialized numerological art of “judging people by their appearance” and “observing words and reading faces.” Face reading has practical value because it can enhance people's powers of perception in an enjoyable way, helping to avoid and reduce bad decisions, poor choices of whom to employ, careless choices of friends, career failures, unhappy marriages, and a bleak old age, allowing us to prepare for a rainy day, seek good fortune and avoid harm, and be ready for whatever comes.